One of the revelations in Sanjaya Baru’s book, The Accidental Prime Minister, involved former Thermax chairperson Anu Aga (pictured), reported The Economic Times (ET) on January 5, 2017. Baru, a political analyst, who was Prime Minister (PM) 
Manmohan Singh’s media adviser, writes that Aga’s name came up when Singh asked his team to shortlist names for the new Planning Commission. Baru was assigned the task of obtaining her consent to join and Aga asked for a day’s time to confirm, which she did eventually. However, Singh told Baru that writer and activist Syeda Hafeez had been selected. Baru’s comment in the book is: "The ‘gender’ and ‘minority boxes’ had been filled up with Syeda’s appointment.”
Baru’s memoir, published in 2014, is a withering expose of the workings of Singh’s government which was largely controlled by Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi to whom the PM was allegedly subservient.
Aga told ET: "It was an incident in my life and I don’t give it any importance. It doesn’t take away my enthusiasm. It doesn’t make me bitter. I’ve understood that that’s the way the government works. There are many political reasons why people are selected… Such things do happen in India and elsewhere in the world.”
She, however, did work with Singh’s government during its second innings, as a member of the National Advisory Council (NAC), Aga shared with the newspaper. "I know that NAC was a much maligned group and people called us all kinds of names, jholewale (a derogatory reference to activists as people who carry bags which are full of tricks) and all. They said we had no constitutional validity to be there. But whatever others may say, I have learnt a lot through NAC. We had some of the best activists there. It was wonderful to see India through their eyes and see the problems they see and suggest solutions. Like manual scavenging; after so many laws and changes, it still exists. How do we change that? Or some of the denotified tribes and their conditions. I just feel (the NAC) did very useful work for the country,” she shared with undiminished enthusiasm.